#feyre archeron critical

[lainalit]

Just a reminder that compassionate and empathetic queen Feyre needed a personal reason for stopping Ianthe from r*ping lucien and not Idk cause it would be the right think to do

[achaotichuman]

Feyre- Hah hah! I destroyed the Spring Court and left them for dead through this elaborate plan that I made up on the spot while we are literally in the middle of war, so I can get back at Tamlin!

Tamlin- She destroyed the Spring Court and left us for dead through this elaborate plan she made up on the spot while we are literally in the middle of war, just so she can get back at me

Feyre-

[wallflowers-in-the-wind]

Reading Tamlin not holding back on his anger toward Feyre during the High Lord meeting has to be the best form of revenge he can do without causing another full out war. And Feyre and Rhysand deserved every bit of criticism and scathing remark against them.

I still can’t believe people defend Feyre’s actions during the meeting and against the Spring Court. Her problem was with Tamlin. Not the entire court who she previously kept insisting she wanted to help, whose lives she destroyed. She may have sworn to destroy everything Tamlin loves over actions that weren’t even his fault but punishing innocents out of anger is uncalled for.

From Tamlin’s perspective Feyre was SA and held captive by Rhysand. When she was finally home he apologized for what he did wrong and promised to be better and gave her space. He didn’t tell her about his secret about being a spy against Hyburn because he didn’t want to overwhelm her and still had some doubt that she truly was being manipulated and wanted to come back. Yet he still gave her a chance only for the woman he loved to manipulate him and destroy everyone and everything out of some form of sick revenge.

Even his best friend Lucien left him and while some of the reason’s were caused by Tamlin it was due to manipulation by Feyre. She made Tamlin believe she was having an affair with Lucien. Something I will never forgive because Lucien was innocent and was trying to help her ungrateful ass.

Everyone turned on Tamlin yet he managed to earn their trust again after being framed as an abusive partner. A mindset Feyre implanted in everyone’s minds not to mention the mind manipulations she used on Tamlin.

Feyre better thank whatever unnamed god SJM refuses to world build that Tamlin hasn’t gotten revenge against her for everything she put him and his people through and for being merciful enough to bring Rhysand back to life for her happiness. Because if Tamlin ever did decide to get revenge people would truly understand the wrath of Spring.

[ennawrite]

Tamlin: *is personally targeted by Amarantha to be her lover, denies her advances & gets cursed, spends the next 50 years sending his sentries out to ultimately die (something he feels extreme guilt for and tries to stop), actively takes in refugees from other courts, spends a majority of his time hunting down Amarantha’s monsters from his lands so they can’t harm his people, gets a human woman to fall in love with him but sends her away so she won’t be in danger, goes UTM, basically becomes Amarantha’s lap dog, somehow holds all of his emotions back because ANY sign of ANY emotion would get Feyre killed (did I mention how down-bad Amarantha is for Tamlin? Yeah.)(Also, Rhysand somehow finds it suitable to parade Feyre around like his own personal whore because…he wanted to rile Tamlin up? Which would have lead to Feyre’s death…🤔), ends up killing Amarantha*

Rhys:

jesus man, I know you hate him but give roses where roses are due. Tamlin did A LOT, but I guess doing Amarantha’s personal tasks (like killing children) is the only thing that holds any merit to the High Lord of the Night Court 🫤

[k-godling]

Welcome to the ACOTAR fandom!

I’d love your takes on the Archeron sisters!

Thank you, I’ve only really been properly in the fandom for a few months, but I HAVE THOUGHTS! This is also a warning that some of my thoughts are ‘hot takes’ in the fandom, but these are my thoughts.

Warning: This is heavy anti-Inner Circle

Nesta Archeron

Ok! We’re gonna start with the BIG one.

TL:DR - I love Nesta’s character. I think she’s complex and layered in a way that few other characters are (and in a way that I like).

Other characters that I think are layered/complex or are going to be include:

• Rhysand - I don’t like his layers, I think that if he stayed the morally greyish character he was in the first book, I would absolutely love him, but I hate the way that all of his bad deeds are excused because ‘I wear a mask’ and ‘it was for the greater good’… like I just want him be quiet sometimes.

• Eris - I can’t wait for his story. Because he also ‘wears a mask’ for the good of his ENTIRE COURT. And I think he is just what Rhys would’ve ended up like if he didn’t have the cushioning of the Velaris and the Inner Circle, but I think this is better. Eris doesn’t push blame or anything like that. I can’t wait to learn more about him.

• Elain - This is gonna be short cuz she has her own section, but I think she’s such a blank slate rn that I think she’s absolutely sizzling underneath. She’s got shit to say.

• Azriel - I need him to blow up and leave. And I know that’s dramatic and over the top but I NEED IT. In my opinion, he’s the most likely to do it, to rebel and get out of the Night Court, within the Inner Circle because he has the ‘ice that (Rhys) can’t thaw’ or something like that. And because we’ve seen Rhys and Az argue until Rhys has to pull rank, and I think that says a lot about how much Az’s personal loyalty effects him, because a lot of the time he listens because Rhys is his brother and High Lord, not because he agrees with him. Also I want to get into the nitty gritty of Azriel feelings (ALL OF THEM)… self hatred, desperation, abandonment issues.

ANYWAYS… I got off topic, but I like Nesta’s character complexity the most because it’s makes me think of how realistic her reaction to things were. Like the IC have been drinking, gambling, whoring about, and all the shit they’re accusing her of doing, FOR 500 YEARS, but she’s been doing it for a few months and suddenly it’s their biggest problem I’m the world. It’s also massively hypocritical she’s only been doing this for a few months, and it took Cassian 10 YEARS to recover after his mother died and he DESTROYED AN ENTIRE VILLAGE. But if Nesta did that she’d be the bad guy and get locked up.

IT WASN’T REHAB and I will stand by that. If locking her up in a building she cannot get out of, with a man she wants nothing to do with, who ends up have sex with her when she’s in a vulnerable enough state to need ‘rehab’, is the Inner Circle’s acceptable version of ‘helping’ the. I don’t even want to know what ‘healthy’ looks like to them, cuz it ain’t them.

Also, she’s not a mean/nasty person. She has a mirroring personality. She’s gives back what she’s given. It’s why the Valkyries love her so much, it’s why she’s friends with Azriel, it’s why she was civil with Eris before Cassian barged into their dance. Similarly, it’s why she doesn’t care for Amren (Amren cares for no one), it’s why she dislikes Mor (who has had a weird obsession with hating her and making her uncomfortable), it’s why she’ll never by in good terms with Rhys (he will never accept her into his ‘family’ without saying something at every moment he can, and she will always retaliate),

This would also effect her relationship with Feyre, because Feyre will put her Court relationships first (she puts their opinion above reason when dealing with her sisters, she only wanted to help Nesta because of how it made her look as High Lady). Another reason to further this point is the fact that they stuck Cassian up there with her, which in my opinion was to get her to soften up to the mating bond and make it easier to control her/her powers (orchestrated by Rhysand), and probably for ‘the better of the court’.

Speaking of Cassian, I hate him as her mate. I don’t think he likes her at all, definitely doesn’t love her, he just wants a mate. And they’re so incompatible thats their mating bond makes no sense. Why would the Cauldron give her a mate that she couldn’t genetically have kids with if the entire point of mates is to make the most powerful offspring, cuz before she changed her anatomy, she couldn’t have held his baby.

That’s where I’m gonna finish the Inner Circle but cuz I’m gonna get heated otherwise.

The only thing left is her with the Dread Trove. First of all, the Dread Trove currently only answers to her, therefore she should have control of how to use it, especially for when she thinks it should and shouldn’t be used. Same with her Made weapons, none of the Inner Circle should have authority or power over where those weapons go, and who should wield them, other than her, especially since no one else can even touch them.

Saying this, I understand Rhys’ rage about Nesta giving the Mask to Bryce. I understand both POVs because both were for what they believed to be right, WITH GOOD REASONS, and not just ‘it’s for the betterment of Prythian’ because both of their theories were possible to happen if she did or didn’t give the Mask.

HOWEVER, Rhys berating her the way that he did to point where someone had to step in and it WASN’T CASSIAN, but someone Nesta doesn’t even know, was sickening. I will never trust either of those two men to actually care about Nesta with sincerity and not with an ulterior motive.

This is where I’m gonna stop, because this is gonna end up to be long post.

Feyre Archeron

I’m gonna try make this as simple as possible.

• ACOTAR - I liked her

• ACOMAF - I was iffy about her

• ACOWAR - I hated her

• ACOFAS - I didn’t care for her

• ACOSF - I hated her

Just to be clear, I’m highly critical of Feyre, because the writing of her is inconsistent and contradictory, and I don’t think that it’s going to change.

Firstly, she has a panic attack and loses control when being locked up for ‘her own safety’, but then threatens to tie up and drag Nesta to the HoW if she refused? And that’s alright?

Let’s not forget that’s she’s a WAR CRIMINAL!!! The fact that she did everything she did in the Spring Court to get back at Tamlin, but it directly affected everyone in the Court EXCEPT FOR Tamlin (but it did later). And the fact that the Inner Circle was celebrating her for it.

PEOPLE LOST THEIR HOMES, THEIR BUSINESSES, THEIR LIVES. LITERALLY EVERYTHING BECAUSE OF HER. This is literally most of the reason that I cannot physically like her as a character. Because, at the end of the day, it’s doesn’t matter if ‘it was up to Tamlin’s decisions’ because she still caused it. That blood would still be on HER hands.

Also, HOT TAKE INCOMING, she shouldn’t be High Lady. She literally found out that far couldn’t lie within the same year/year and a half that she became High Lady. SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT FAE. She basically JUST learned how to read ffs. And suddenly people who are over 500 years older have to listen to her orders when she knows nothing that shes talking about (specifically in reference to when she tells Azriel to pull out his spies and stop spying on Briallyn and he disagrees).

And how the Inner Circle expect the Court of Nightmares to respect her when the first time they’re introduced to her, she literally just know as Rhysand’s Whore, and gave him a lap dance, like I wouldn’t respect you either. Same goes for the people Under the Mountain, she was literally doing the same thing and suddenly they have to respect her cuz she’s in a position of ‘power’ (which I don’t believe is real btw, I think she’s only High Lady because Rhys gave her the title).

ALSO, I hate that everyone says she freed the Fae from Amarantha. No she didn’t, Tamlin did. Feyre bargained that if she finished the trials, or solved the riddle, it would free TAMLIN AND THE SPRING COURT, not everyone else. The only reason everyone else was free was because TAMLIN KILLED AMARANTHA.

(Also the fact that both her and Rhysand are still resentful of Tamlin even though he’s literally the entire reason they’re both still alive is fucking hilarious to me.)

I’ve already made the comments I wanted to make on her relationship with Nesta, and I can’t comment on her relationship with Elain because we haven’t seen enough of it on-page.

In my opinion, ACOTAR Feyre would absolutely hate ACOSF Feyre. What do you mean you have 5 houses? What do you mean you rule a court where 2/3’s of it are oppressed and girls’ virginities get sold to highest bidder and they get permanently mutilated, and you’ve done nothing but wear their wings like a costume? You’ve done nothing but basically encourage Hewn City to continue to brutalise their wives and daughters, and the cycle will never stop.

Then you can’t understand when people don’t want to live in your ‘perfect city’ that’s built in the backs of your other citizens, or work for you, when you do nothing for people who actually need it.

Also, I hate that she’s nosy af, and people just give her information, it politically makes no sense.

e.g. Eris spilling his guts about the night Lucien left Autumn, none of Feyre’s business because she obviously she doesn’t care about Lucien (but I’m not gonna get into that)

e.g. There was no need for Rhys to give Feyre Azriel’s backstory about his father and brothers, it makes no sense. Azriel is literally the most secretive person in the Night Court, I don’t think he’d just want you to spill his life story to someone who’s effectively a stranger, it doesn’t matter who you are.

e.g. Hiding Lucien’s real father from him and Helion, like wtf is going through your head, because now if they find out, there’s a possibility that the Night Court lose two allies, Day (Helion) and Autumn (Eris). Never mind Azriel and a blood duel, this damn secret is bad for you stupid political balance, but it’s not gonna go that way cuz SJM is so far up the Inner Circle’s asses, I’m surprised she’s not popping out the other end.

I’m gonna end this part here cuz it’s getting me heated and I don’t want to feel bad.

Elain Archeron

Ok, this part is going to be significantly lighter because I don’t have a lot of thoughts, but I will share some headcanons.

The reason this won’t be long is because I’m relatively ambivalent to canon Elain because I haven’t seen enough of her and her personality yet to have an informed opinion.

My opinion on the ship war thing is just that I don’t think she should even have a romantic relationship yet. I think she needs to find a place for herself in the world now that she’s fae, BEFORE she finds a significant other, because the other two sisters did it the other way and it’s now getting boring.

BUT, if I had to pick someone for her to be with, it would be Lucien, due to the fact that it’s impossible for me to see her with Azriel for the rest of her fae life, it makes no sense to me.

However, to plug any possible sort of future works I might do, I have crack ships of the Vanserras and the Archerons, but it’s not what you think.

I have a mini guilty pleasure ship of Eris x Elain, and Lucien x Nesta (but it has to be in the same universe, if you get what I mean)

With Elain x Eris, it’s because I have the theory that Elain is sizzling on the inside and is going to explode on the Inner Circle. Within this theory, I headcanon Elain to be sarcastically snarky (like Dorian/Lysandra from ToG) and can give Eris some his attitude back in playful way (which is a dynamic I love). And she gets violent when she needs to against people who try to hurt Eris, like when he NEEDS TO KILL BERON.

Also, I don’t think she’d be as sidelined in Autumn as she is in Night, because Eris takes care of the ENTIRE court, she could go around and ask for and give advice on how to grow certain flowers or crops because they’ll be a lot more farmers growing their own crops instead of importing them.

Also, in my opinion, Autumn Court is the most human court as of right now, which I think she would find comfort in, and it borders the Spring Court which I think she would love to visit.

Also in this headcanon, I think that she’d play a large part in Tamlin’s recovery and the revival of the Spring Court, which would be her path to possibly becoming a High Lady, of Spring if Tamlin abdicates or Autumn with Eris, if she would want either of these possibilities.

Lucien x Nesta should be obvious, I believe that SJM should have kept them mates. They would bounce off of each other well, he’d actually love her how she deserves to be loved, he’d probably act out whatever book scenes she’d want him to.

Anyways, those are my thought on the Archeron Sister - plus a few more tangents (sorry about that).

Also, I have an ACOTAR story planned, but it basically completely rewrites most canon events, so it’s an AU instead of a fanficion. Hints for it include azriel x oc, eris main character, Lucien main character, the dusk court, dragons, starborne power.

HOWEVER, in this AU, the other series will not exist. No Throne of Glass, no Crescent City. There will definitely be themes and passages used from those series, and names will be dropped (e.g. Ashryver) but it has nothing to do with this character, like Aelin won’t be mentioned at all as the Aelin from Throne of Glass.

Let me know if you want to see it xx

– Serenity 🤍

[kataraavatara]

Do you think Feyre is a good person or just someone who always needs to be perceived as a good person?

oh! good question! I think Feyre, at her core is a good person but I think Rhysand + IC have been slowly changing her and warping her perception of self and justice.

The best way I can describe her attitude by ACOSF is neoliberal, honestly. If something is blatantly evil and wrong like Amarantha/Hybern, she will absolutely stand up against and fight for innocent people. The issue is that the way the Night Court is run is inherently unjust and Feyre doesn’t see anything wrong with it. And she used to! For example: In ACOMAF she’s critical of the fact that Velaris doesn’t have to provide troops for the NC, which is a fair criticism of the Night Court. It’s absolutely unfair that parts of the country like Illyria seem to have what is essentially a compulsory draft, who knows how Darkbringers in Hewn City are recruited and trained (I doubt it’s voluntary or like…safe. At all. And yes Rhysand has to negotiate with Keir, technically Keir is in charge etc etc but that still means the burden falls on the CoN and rhys instead of Velaris), and there’s zero pressure on the populace of Velaris to provide military aid at all. They get to reap the benefits of the Night Court’s strong military presence without actually having to sacrifice anything. That’s not fair at all. In fact, the whole Night Court seems to be banked on the idea that certain sections of the population are sacrificial lambs. It’s literally this meme:

Rhysand openly admits that he lets the Court of Nightmares continue on the way it is because it keeps his enemies afraid of the NC…so Velaris can stay hidden and protected. There are women actively suffering. Mor describes them as being sold for the virginities. What does the great feminist Rhysand do? Nothing.

All criticisms and questions of Rhysand’s rule are gone from Feyre’s mind by now.

In short, Feyre has the lukewarm, milquetoast, neoliberal morality of a typical MCU protagonist- be the first in line to fight against clearly defined existential evil but protect the status quo at all costs. Dissapointing, but not surprising.

[ennawrite]

and I fear he absolutely devoured her here 🫢

SJM here wanting me to drop Tamlin who says he would fight for people's freedom and do what he can stop injustice even if it kills him and instead swoon over the centrist overgrown bat twink that spews 'both sides were wrong' bullshit.

Sorry Mrs. Maas we're built different. I'm sticking my anti slavery himbo. The centrist narcissist can go choke. (If only 🙄)

[lainalit]

I saw Feyre Stan's claim that Feyre is the chosen high lady of the night court because of the kernel of magic Rhysand gave her in the first book since she could revitalize him in Acowar. 

So in this hypothetical scenario of Rhysand dying in Acowar, she would have been chosen by the land as the new high lady of the night court. But what would have happened if, for example, Beron died in Acowar and Feyre was chosen as the next Autumn Court high lady since she has the kernel of him and every other high lord?

This would bring a whole new problem into the mix that Tamlin already addressed in Acomaf in a sense, but the fandom and the narrative dismissed that Feyre would be hunted, not because of her powers per se but because she could snatch up the high lord's titles from the different high lord's family lines without ever being a citizen of their court, not knowing their costumes, their culture, their traditions, etc.

It could make feyre High Queen of Prythian in a literal sense, and as this is Sjm, we talk about who already has colonizer remarks from her supposed hero characters in both Acotar and her other book series. I wouldn't be surprised if she would go that round. 

Also since nobody, including Sjm bc she literally admitted to not outlining her books and writing based on vibes, knows how any of this stuff is going to work out. 

It brings more problems within the already contracting and retconned world building of the series if feyre's high lady title isn't a formality.

[ennawrite]

What would’ve been a real serve is if the land/Mother/whoever tf decides who becomes High Lord would have actually made Feyre High Lady.

Because right now, it’s nothing but a name. There’s nothing to back it up besides Rhys saying so. But if she was actually chosen, then even Rhys himself wouldn’t be able to question it. I also don’t think Rhys giving her that title makes him a feminist king. It feels more like a manipulative tool than anything but I digress.

Idk I just don’t care very much for the ultimate girl boss move when a man had to give her that title. And in reality…her status doesn’t particularly stand on any solid ground. The High Lords aren’t High Lords because they just decided to be. It all depends on who the power goes to. Even Feyre’s magic wasn’t given to her by some higher power (although I do think she deserves to have those powers since she saved them…but that doesn’t make her High Lady material).

Vivianne led the Winter Court for fifty years, and still wasn’t made High Lady…because the power didn’t go to her. She wasn’t chosen. That’s likeeee kinda the whole point of having High Lords. It’s not something that’s voted on or given to them, it’s chosen for them. By something much larger than any of them.

I feel like we often see that Feyre and Rhysand are not on equal ground. No matter what Feyre says, Rhysand’s vote will always trump her own. The Inner Circle will always choose Rhysand over her. They are not equals, in any way. And I am tired of being gaslit into believing so.

ALSO, I don’t think Tamlin being blunt and saying “There are no High Ladies” is sexist. He spoke facts and I refuse to be mad at him for not dangling a fake title in front of Feyre’s face that truly doesn’t mean much of anything when you actually think about it for more than five seconds.

[ennawrite]

Feyre’s lack of political awareness and need to dickride the IC in any circumstance is actually astounding. Especially during the High Lords’ meeting when she just assumed her little gang is somehow better than everyone else

Feyre during the HL meeting: yeah Mor & Azriel could take on all 6 High Lords in a battle, no problem🥰

MY GIRL YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE!!! YOU’VE KNOWN EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM FOR LIKE 6 MONTHS MAX!!!! And you were a human who knew nothing about them before that!!!!

Genuinely, have we even seen Mor or the Bat Boys do anything that warrants them being stronger/better than the guys who are literally magic personified??? The mfs who have been picked specially by a higher power, mind you. I’m sorry, but the Inner Circle is getting obliterated if it’s them against the High Lords 😭

[ennawrite]

>Keir literally asks for his people to be FREE from the mountain

>”As I’m sure he’s ignored most women in his life”

>acknowledges other women being in the CoN

>doesn’t think to liberate them

ah yes, thank you Feyre Archeron, High Lady of Velaris 🛐🛐

(Mind you, Keir is still a horrible, abusive piece of shit but so I personally think it speaks volumes and sheds light on the conditions & confidenents of the Hewn City if the worst guy alive is like “hey uh can we not be trapped here?”)

Kier: we want to be free from this mountain

Feyre: are u not ok being trapped under this mountain with all this COMFORT

Keir: ignores her

Feyre: must be because I am a woman

[bookbitchx]

"There is no such thing as High Lady."

Call Tamlin a misogynistic sexist asshole or whatever else you want, but he's right.

High Lady is a title Rhysand gave to Feyre.

It's honorary.

It wasn't 'earned'. She wasn't 'blessed' with it, and she certainly wasn't chosen by the land and the magic.

If there was a title and it meant something, don't you think Viviane, of all women, would've been granted it by the lands for holding down the fort in Winter Court for 50 years while Kalias was stuck UTM?

Kalias could've also easily slapped the title on her like Rhysand did with Feyre, and yet he didn't. You know why? Because Viviane doesn't need it. She's already respected and seen as his equal by his court and the others for what she has done.

Feyre can't say the same, can she?

SJM sets it up as this badass moment of empowerment, but all I saw was Rhysand giving a baby (by Fae years) a title and letting her run loose with it as well as letting it go to her head.

The first thing she did after getting that title was go and get revenge on a whole ass court because she had issues with its High Lord which is insane in of itself but it brings me to my point, that there was no political repercussions where as if Rhysand had done it, it would've declared an internal war between Night and Spring.

It would've been a good ass arc if she had learned Prythian politics, history, diplomacy, the cultures, and customs of the other courts, including her own, so much as visited the other courts, slowly climbed the ranks and learned instead of Rhysand shoving that crown on her head and down everyone else's throats.

It's like taking me, a complete clueless, inadequate foreigner, and making me the Queen of England. Utterly ridiculous.

"You just hate Feyre being High Lady because you want Nesta to be one."

The same thing goes for Nesta, babe. NONE of the Archeron sisters are qualified to be High Ladies, honorary or not.

One of the hills I will die and kill on.

[spacerockfloater]

The way people switched on Tamlin the moment Rhys was introduced is diabolical.

“Tamlin never really loved Feyre, it was all a trick from the start”: It is stated that Tamlin was disgusted by the idea of forcing someone to fall in love with him and considered it slavery, but ended up being so in love with her that he ultimately lets her go and choses her freedom and safety over that of his own people. Rhys confirms that Tamlin loved Feyre too much. And he loved her truly. Not because he had to. Tamlin treated Feyre with dignity when she was engaged to him. He introduced her as his lady, to be respected and cherished by all. And she really was loved by his people, too. Rhysand uses her as his lap dog to scare Hewn City and parades her as his whore.

“Tamlin never did anything for Feyre, he just used her”: He improved her and her family’s life in every aspect and offered her everything he had.

“Tamlin had sex with someone else in Calanmai”: Out of duty and responsibility because he didn’t want to force Feyre, who still wasn’t sure about her feelings, into it. All of the High Lords perform the Calanmai. Lucien says so. How convenient that this is never brought up with Rhysand. He surely does perform it as well. All the theories in here, “Lucien doesn’t know what he’s talking about/ This is a SC ritual only/ He probably just passes the duty on to someone else” are just a way for people to villainise Tam and glorify Rhys again. All of them inaccurate. The Calanmai is canonically performed by every High Lord. There’s no evidence that proves otherwise. As the son of one High Lord and the ambassador of another, Lucien would know. He is 500 years old. It’s just more convenient for SJM to never bring this up again because it raises the question of “Who was Rhysand fucking all these years?” and it makes her favourite character look bad. And once he is engaged to her, Tamlin flat out refuses to do it. Let’s be real for a second.

“Tamlin didn’t help Feyre under the mountain”: He literally could not. He was bound by a curse. He was forced to be Amarantha’s consort and a consort cannot oppose you. His powers were bound. Alis warns Feyre that Tamlin will not be able to help her. Stop acting as if he didn’t want to help her. He decapitated Amarantha the moment he got his autonomy back. Claiming that there’s no proof that Tamlin was under the influence of a spell when he literally didn’t break the curse and Amarantha’s magic didn’t allow him to use his powers is crazy. And even if he tried, he could never provide actual help. We see this when he begs Amarantha for Feyre’s life. Him showing he cares about her would only make Amarantha more jealous and vicious towards Feyre.

“Tamlin made out with Feyre instead of helping her”: He couldn’t help her run away. No one could do that. She would never make it, Amarantha would find her. In fact, Tamlin specifically could not help her in any way. He could only assure her he still wants and loves her. And she wanted that just as much. Rhys abused her physically, mentally, verbally, drugged her and much worse. And he enjoyed all of it. If he didn’t want to raise suspicions, he wouldn’t have placed a bet in her favour. Rhys is a sadist, SJM just decided to mellow him down in the next book so that we’d all like him over Tamlin.

“Tamlin ignored Feyre’s wishes and only wanted her to be his bride, he didn’t let her be High Lady”: Both Tamlin and Feyre were bad communicators going though trauma and Tam had a whole court to care for. Tamlin was unaware of how Feyre felt because she barely spoke up once. Rhys knew because he literally lived inside her head and had all the time in the world to focus his attention on her since his court suffered zero consequences during Amarantha’s reign. And Tamlin simply told her the truth: there’s no such thing as High Lady. Even her current title is given to her by Rhys, the magic of Prythian has not actually chosen her to be High Lady. The title and its power are decorative. And she said she didn’t want that anyway.

“Tamlin locks Feyre up and uses his magic to harm her”: He locks her in his humongous palace to keep her safe, after she just came back from the dead and his worst enemy is kidnapping her every month, while he runs off to protect his borders. Rhysand locks Feyre in a fucking bubble. Tamlin loses control of his magic. He doesn’t want to harm her. That’s not abuse. Abuse is intentional. Feyre and Rhysand lock Lucien and Nesta up. They lock the people of the Hewn City up in a cave. Feyre loses control of her magic and harms Lucien’s mother. Double standards I guess.

“Tamlin is a bad and conservative ruler”: Tamlin is such a beloved ruler that his sentries literally begged to die for him. Feyre had to fuck with their minds to finally turn them against him. They were his friends. He was so progressive that the lords fled his court once he became their ruler because he wouldn’t put up with their bullshit like his father did. He loved all of his people. He is against slavery. The Tithe was just tax collection. Rhysand practically rules over just one city, while ignoring Hewn City and Illyria. He treats 2/3 of his realm like shit and everyone except the residents of Velaris hates him. He collects tax, too, but we conveniently never see this. He ranks the members of his inner circle (my 1st, my 2nd etc.) and reminds them every moment that they are his slaves first and anything else second, while Tamlin treats them equally and even gives Lucien an official title by naming him Ambassador.

“Tamlin conspired with Hybern”: He was a double agent and his short lived alliance, two weeks all in all, not only didn’t harm a single soul, but ultimately saved all of Prythian as he was the only one who brought valuable information to that meeting. He dragged Beron to battle. Rhysand’s alliance with Amarantha harmed thousands and only helped save one city, Velaris.

“Tamlin is responsible for turning Nesta and Elain into Fae”: No, that was Ianthe, who got the info from Feyre. Tamlin was fooled by her, just as Feyre obviously was, or she wouldn’t have trusted her. Tamlin was disgusted by that act.

“Tamlin is less powerful than Rhysand”: Rhysand himself says that a battle between them would turn mountains to dust. Tamlin killed Rhysand’s dad, the previous High Lord of the Night Court, in one blow. He is just as powerful as Rhysand. SJM again just wants us to believe otherwise. And he is smarter, too. He was the only one not to trust Amarantha. And he was a good spy for Prythian against Hybern.

All of these takes are cold as fuck. SJM was testing the waters with ACOTAR and she made sure the main love interest, Tamlin, was insanely likeable, so that the book could be a satisfactory standalone story in case she couldn’t land a trilogy deal. She didn’t know it would be such a big hit. But once she realised she could turn this into a franchise, she had to figure out a new story to tell. She may claim otherwise, but there’s just too many plothotes to convince me. And in order to make her new main love interest seem like the best choice, she had to character assassinate the old one. There was no other way. ACOTAR Rhys was too much of an evil monster to be loved by the majority of the audience. But Tamlin was introduced to us as such a heroic and passionate man that is literally impossible to turn him into someone despised by all. Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand reads too much like cheating on Tamlin. That’s why anyone with basic analytical skills is able to realise the flaws of the narration.

[achaotichuman]

Feyre- "NO, it's GOOD and HEROIC when Rhysand works as a double agent, but when you do it Tamlin it's EVIL and you're trying to CONTROL ME!!!"

Tamlin- "That doesn't make the slightest amount of sense."

Feyre- "Yes it does!!!"

Tamlin- "Lucien, what is it that the children say?"

Lucien- "The math ain't mathing."

Tamlin- "Ah yes, the math is not mathing."

[amberthefantasy]

I love feyre, I really do. but this is so true. and it didn't have to be framed as a good thing, literally all that needed to happen was have freyre realise what she did there was fucked, have Lucien call her out for using his triggers to get her way and let her have a moment of reflection.

and if sjm could write a good story she would have done that but ya know

Will never get over how Feyre pushed Tamlin into losing control of his magic for her own agenda and purposefully refused to use her shields to protect herself just to make a show to people that he’s volatile and abusive. It is honestly disgusting because she knows he isn’t in full control of his emotions and she uses that to gain victim points. Imagine using someone’s triggers to push them to the breaking point and acting like that’s an achievement. It’s fucking gross and we are supposed to root for this?

[ennawrite]

“I can eat, drink, fuck, and fight just as well as I did before. Better, even.”

Oh…